1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for producing a suspension member, such as a suspension arm, a suspension bracket, and the like, and particularly, to a suspension member for a vehicle, comprising a first mounting portion for relatively swingably connected to either one of a vehicle body and an axle through a connecting member, and a second mounting portion integrally connected to the first mounting portion and connected to the other of the vehicle body and the axle, the first mounting portion, provided at an outer surface thereof with a pair of parallel cam guides for adjusting the relative mounting position between the first mounting portion and a connection member by cooperation with eccentric cams connected to the connecting member.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are conventionally known suspension members, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. A cam guide (G', FIG. 9, G", FIG. 10) is integrally projected from conventional suspension member A'. The relative mounting position between the connecting member and the suspension member A', i.e., the geometric point, can be adjusted by use of the cam guide (G', G") and an eccentric cam C.sub.1 on the connecting member in combination, thereby adjusting the alignment of camber, or the like.
In the case of the above prior art as shown in FIG. 9, the suspension member A', after being formed, is subjected to a special cutting to form the cam guides G'. Or as shown in FIG. 10, the separate member G" is post-attached to the suspension member A' by securing means, such as, by welding w, to form the cam guide G".
However, the former method is accompanied by a problem that a certain dimensional tolerance may be produced in the positioning of a guide surface of the cam guide G' with respect to the suspension member A' due to a positioning error of a jig or a cutting machine in conducting the above-described cutting. The latter method is also accompanied by a problem that a certain dimensional tolerance may be likewise produced in the positioning of a guide surface of the separate member G" for the cam guide with respect to the suspension member A' in conducting the welding. Further, it is necessary to provide a welding margin in the separate member G" for the cam guide and for this reason, the shape of the separate member G" may be limited in many cases, and the separate member G" tends to be increased in size and in weight.
In the prior art method, the cam guide is formed, or secured, at a separate step after formation of a suspension member body, as described above. This results in a limitation in accurately placing the cam guide to each mating portion of the suspension member body. In a mechanism of adjusting the alignment by the eccentric cams and cam guides, if the total of the dimensional tolerances of the cams and cam guides is represented by .+-.d, this directly effects the dimensional tolerance .+-.D of a body mounting portion or a knuckle mounting portion and as a result, the dimensional tolerance of the entire system is .+-.(D+d). Therefore, the alignment adjusting range must be correspondingly widened, which is contrary to an essential primary purpose of the adjusting mechanism to adjust the D. Thus, it is necessary to reduce the dimensional tolerance d to the utmost.